Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Online Safety

Ms Nadine Dorries: Today the government is introducing the Online Safety Bill. For most people, the internet has transformed relationships and working environments, but illegal and harmful content appearing online is a growing problem. This groundbreaking Bill will keep users safe while protecting freedom of expression and democratic debate online. Under the new laws, in-scope services will need to:Tackle criminal activity - There will be no safe space for criminal content online. Platforms will have to remove terrorist material or child sexual abuse and exploitation quickly, and will not be allowed to promote it in their algorithms.Protect children - The strongest protections in our new laws are for children and young people. They will be protected from harmful or inappropriate content such as grooming, bullying, pornography and the promotion of self-harm and eating disorders.Enforce their terms and conditions - The largest online platforms with the widest reach, including the most popular social media platforms (Category 1 services) will need to set out clearly what harmful content accessed by adults is allowed on their sites, and enforce their terms of service consistently, while protecting freedom of expression and democratic debate.The strongest provisions in our legislation are for children. All companies in scope of this legislation will need to consider the risks that their sites could pose to the youngest members of society. This Bill will require companies to take steps to protect children from inappropriate content and harmful activity online, including from content such as pro-suicide material. The Bill will also require providers who publish or host pornographic content on their services to prevent children from accessing that content, including using age-verificaton technology where appropriate.Furthermore, this Bill will ensure companies take robust action against illegal content. We have included a new list of priority offences on the face of the Bill, reflecting the most serious and prevalent illegal content and activity, against which companies must take proactive measures. These will include, amongst others, revenge pornography, fraud, the sale of illegal drugs or weapons, the promotion or facilitation of suicide, people smuggling and the illegal sex trade. The Bill will also introduce a requirement on in-scope companies to report child sexual exploitation and abuse imagery detected on their platforms to the National Crime Agency. This will ensure companies provide law enforcement with the high-quality information they need to safeguard victims and investigate offenders. The updated Bill will also tackle scam adverts, by requiring the largest platforms to put in place proportionate systems and processes to prevent fraudulent adverts being published or hosted on their service.This legislation will not prevent adults from accessing or posting legal content. Rather, the major platforms will need to be clear what content is acceptable on their services and enforce their terms and conditions consistently and effectively. We have refined the approach to defining content that is harmful to adults, so that all types of harmful content that Category 1 services (the largest online platforms with the widest reach, including the most popular social media platforms) are required to address will be set out in regulations subject to approval by both Houses. This will provide clarity about the harms that services must address and will reduce the risk of Category 1 services taking an overly broad approach to what is considered harmful. In addition, these companies will not be able to remove controversial viewpoints arbitrarily, and users will be able to seek redress if they feel content has been removed unfairly. Both Ofcom and in-scope companies will have duties relating to freedom of expression, for which they can be held to account. Category 1 services will also have duties for democratic and journalistic content. They will need to set in their terms and conditions how they will protect this content on their platforms explicitly. This will ensure that people in the UK can express themselves freely online and participate in pluralistic and robust debate.The Bill provides Ofcom with robust enforcement powers to take action when platforms do not comply. Options available to Ofcom include imposing substantial fines, requiring improvements and pursuing business disruption measures (including blocking). The Bill also includes criminal offences for senior managers who fail to ensure their company cooperates with Ofcom, and gives them the information they need to regulate effectively. The government has also announced additional information-related offences, including ensuring employees do not give false information during interviews, which will further help ensure that companies give Ofcom full and accurate information. We will bring these criminal sanctions into force as soon as possible after Royal Assent (generally two months, in line with standard practice), to further promote strong compliance.The threat posed by harmful and illegal content and activity is a global one and the government remains committed to building international consensus around shared approaches to improve internet safety. Under the UK’s presidency of the G7, the world's leading democracies committed to a set of Internet Safety Principles. This is significant as it is the first time that an approach to internet safety has been agreed in the G7. We will continue to collaborate with our international partners to develop common approaches to this shared challenge that uphold our democratic values and promote a free, open and secure internet.We are grateful for the extensive engagement and scrutiny of the Bill from the Joint Committee, DCMS Select sub-committee and the Petitions Committee, which has helped us to create a framework that delivers for users and maintains the UK’s reputation as a tech leader. The Bill is sustainable, workable, and proportionate, and will create a significant step-change in the experience people have online.We are also publishing the response to the Report of the Joint Committee on the Draft Online Safety Bill alongside publication of the Bill, and we thank the Committee once again for their work and their recommendations.

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

Housing Update

Eddie Hughes: Supported housing plays a vital role in delivering better life outcomes and improved wellbeing and health for many vulnerable people.The Government is committed to ensuring that supported housing is good quality and meets the needs of its residents. In recognition of its importance, the Government is investing £11.5 billion in much-needed supply through the Affordable Homes Programme, which includes delivery of new supported housing for older, disabled and other vulnerable people.However, we are aware of a minority of landlords who charge high rents for poor quality accommodation and little or no support.I wish to inform the House of the Government’s intention to bring forward measures to put an end to unscrupulous landlords exploiting some of the most vulnerable in our society.We have no intention of penalising those providers who operate responsibly. We are clear that measures must be as targeted and proportionate as possible to protect supply of housing across the board.Our intention is to take forward a package of measures that will include:Minimum standards for the support provided to residents to ensure residents receive the good quality support they expect and deserve in order to live as independently as possible and achieve their personal goals;New powers for local authorities in England to better manage their local supported housing market and ensure that rogue landlords cannot exploit the system to the detriment of vulnerable residents and at the expense of taxpayers; andChanges to Housing Benefit regulations to seek to define care, support and supervision to improve quality and value for money across all specified supported housing provision.We will introduce any measures requiring legislation when parliamentary time allows.We will work closely with local government, sector representatives, providers and people with experience of supported housing as we develop these measures to ensure they are fit for purpose, deliverable and minimise unintended consequences for the providers of much needed, good quality supported housing.Alongside these proposed measures, today I am announcing that we will provide £20 million for a Supported Housing Improvement Programme. Funding for this three-year programme will be open to bids from all local authorities and build on the clear successes of the supported housing pilots. The pilot authorities were able to drive up the quality of accommodation and support to residents. They also improved value for money through enhanced scrutiny of Housing Benefit claims to verify that costs were legitimate and reasonable.The Supported Housing Improvement Programme will be vital to drive up quality in the sector in some of the worst affected areas immediately, while the Government develops and implements longer term regulatory changes. The bidding prospectus for the programme will be published in due course.This package of proposed measures will tackle poor quality and poor value for money in supported housing and improve outcomes for individuals, while preserving good quality provision run by responsible providers.

Department of Health and Social Care

NHS Update

Edward Argar: I want to update the House about further measures this Government is taking to step up its response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which continues to see hundreds of thousands of people who ordinarily live in Ukraine forced to flee their homes and seek safety and support in other countries.Today I want to announce new legislative measures in England to exempt Ukrainian residents from NHS charging so that they can access the NHS on broadly the same basis as someone who is ordinarily resident in the UK. We will apply these exemptions retrospectively from 24 February 2022 to further protect people.Current overseas visitor NHS charging legislation requires us to recover NHS secondary care treatment costs from anyone who does not ordinarily live in the UK, unless an exemption applies to them. Primary care and A&E services and certain types of treatment – including for most infectious diseases - remain free to all, regardless of a person’s homeWe have therefore now amended the Charging Regulations to allow everyone who is ordinarily resident in Ukraine, and their immediate family members, who are lawfully in the UK to access NHS care in England for free, including those who transfer here under official medevac routes.This will cover all potential treatment needs, except for assisted conception services, to align with the existing exemption for those whose Immigration Health Surcharge fees have been waived. Those who will benefit from this additional exemption include:Anyone who uses an alternative temporary (less than six months) visa route outside of the Family or Sponsorship routesAnyone who chooses to extend their visit or seasonal worker visa temporarily, without going through the IHS systemAnyone who is in the process of switching visas (which could take some time to process)We have applied a six-month review clause to this policy and it is our hope that this will not only help provide security and peace of mind for the NHS and those in need, but also to remain open to further developments.Ukrainian residents who are in the UK unlawfully are not covered by these measures but will remain within the scope of existing provisions within the Charging Regulations. This means that not only treatment needed immediately, but any treatment that cannot safely wait until the overseas visitor can be reasonably expected to leave the UK, must never be withheld or delayed, even when that overseas visitor has indicated that they cannot pay. Some NHS services will remain exempt from charge for all overseas visitors, such as primary care, A&E services and treatment of infectious diseases.This Government continues to stand shoulder to shoulder with our Ukrainian friends and we are proud to continue to offer support for Ukrainian residents in our country.

Public Consultation on the Liberty Protection Safeguards and Mental Capacity Act Code of Practice

Gillian Keegan: This is a joint statement with the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Ministry of Justice.Today, the Department of Health and Social Care, and the Ministry of Justice have launched a joint public consultation on an updated statutory Code of Practice for the Mental Capacity Act and on proposals for the implementation of Liberty Protection Safeguards. The Mental Capacity Act 2005 provides an empowering legal framework for people who cannot make certain, specific decisions about their own lives. This includes some people with dementia, learning disabilities and autism.The Liberty Protection Safeguards were introduced in the Mental Capacity (Amendment) Act 2019. They will protect people aged 16 and above who are, or who need to be, deprived of their liberty to enable their care or treatment and who lack the mental capacity to consent to these arrangements. When a person needs to be deprived of their liberty, this must be done with the greatest of care and respect for that person and their rights. It is the government’s intention that the Liberty Protection Safeguards will replace the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards and will provide specific protections when people are deprived of liberty in any setting, in England and Wales.In 2019, MoJ also announced a review of the Mental Capacity Act Code to reflect changes in law and practice since its publication in 2007. We undertook a call for evidence to help us decide which aspects of the Code needed updating or improving. Acting on feedback from stakeholders, we have decided to merge the Mental Capacity Act Code with guidance on the Liberty Protection Safeguards. Liberty Protection Safeguards implementation and practice will therefore be fully informed by the important principles of the Mental Capacity Act.The elements of the new Code that do not directly concern the Liberty Protection Safeguards do not contain new policy or legislation, but rather reflect recent changes in related legislation, organisational structures, good practice and terminology. Following the call for evidence, officials at the Department of Health and Social Care and the Ministry of Justice have worked in partnership with experts to co-produce the new Code. This has involved substantively revising and adding new illustrative scenarios to make the Code more accessible. It is important that the new Code is informed by, and useful for, people who work with the Act and those who are affected by it.Alongside the new Code, we are also publishing additional draft documents, which set out, in detail, how we think the Liberty Protection Safeguards should be implemented and operate. This includes six sets of regulations, information about workforce training, a proposed data specification for national reporting, and an updated Impact Assessment. We welcome views from everyone with an interest in the Liberty Protection Safeguards on the plans set out in these documents.Once we have carefully considered feedback to the consultation, we will publish the Government response and the final drafts of the Code and Liberty Protection Safeguards regulations. The Code and regulations will then be laid in Parliament. People who work with the Act and those who are affected by it will need sufficient time following the publication of those final documents, to prepare for the implementation of Liberty Protection Safeguards.We had hoped to be able to fully implement the Liberty Protection Safeguards by April 2022. Given the impact of the pandemic on the sectors and professionals who will be called upon to implement these important reforms, we have had to reconsider this aim.We have committed to an inclusive public consultation lasting 16 weeks from 17 March to 7 July. We expect that responses will be very detailed and will take time to work through to get the Liberty Protection Safeguards right. We are going to set a new fixed date for Liberty Protection Safeguards implementation post consultation to ensure that there is adequate time for implementation.We look forward to the consultation ahead and will update Parliament when we publish our consultation response.

Universal Principles for Advance Care Planning

Maria Caulfield: The Government is announcing today the publication of the Universal Principles for Advance Care Planning, a document jointly published by a coalition of partners in response to the Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) report into the use of Do Not Attempt Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (DNACPR) decisions taken during the COVID-19 pandemic.We would like to firstly thank all of the partner organisations involved in developing the document, which sets out six high level principles for advance care planning in England. This work has been produced for the benefit of patients and those important to them, as well as practitioners and organisations involved in supporting advance care planning conversations and making sure their outcomes are honoured. By working together on developing and publishing the principles, partner organisations will ensure a consistent national approach to advance care planning. We would also like to thank the CQC for its continued work in this area, as well as patients, their families, representatives and staff who continue to share their experiences on such an important and complex issue. Planning for future care is an empowering act that allows people to feel confident their wishes will be considered if they are ever unable to fully participate in decision making. By having good quality conversations about future treatment in advance, individuals will have a greater sense of control over their ability to live and die well. The joint publication of the Universal Principles demonstrates the commitment that all of these organisations have to ensuring good practice is embedded across the health and care system. It demonstrates the importance of all people, their families or representatives, clinicians and professionals sharing an understanding of the role good advance care planning conversations, including DNACPR decisions, play in high quality personalised care. This piece of work has been overseen by the DNACPR Ministerial Oversight Group, which was established to look in depth at the issues raised in the CQC’s report and to oversee the delivery and required changes of the recommendations. The Universal Principles published today represent a culmination of all the hard work this group and its working representatives have put into addressing the issues highlighted in the report. The Government and NHS England have remained clear that the inappropriate application of DNACPRs is unacceptable in any circumstance. It is important that those organisations who are responsible for taking the Universal Principles forward at an operational level do so to implement clear and consistent best practice across all settings, ensuring everyone receives the high quality personal care they deserve. The Universal Principles for Advance Care Planning can be found here: https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/universal-principles-for-advance-care-planning/

Health Update

Maria Caulfield: It is normal practice, when a government department proposes to undertake a contingent liability in excess of £300,000 for which there is no specific statutory authority, for the Minister concerned to present a Departmental Minute to Parliament giving particulars of the liability created and explaining the circumstances; and to refrain from incurring the liability until fourteen sitting days after the issue of the Minute, except in cases of special urgency. I have today laid a Departmental Minute proposing to provide an indemnity that is required urgently in respect of a Department of Health and Social Care established non-statutory, independent inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the offences committed by David Fuller (‘DF’) at the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust, and their national implications. The Inquiry will be split into two phases:an initial report, on matters relating to Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust, reporting by the middle of 2022, anda final report, looking at the broader national picture and the wider lessons for the NHS and for other settings, reporting by the middle of 2023.It will review DF’s unlawful actions, how he was able to carry these out, why his actions went apparently unnoticed, and will make recommendations with the aim of preventing anything similar happening again. We expect the Inquiry to publish a progress update as soon as possible after Easter recess.In November 2021, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care announced the Inquiry (Volume 703, 8 November 2021) to be chaired by Sir Jonathan Michael. The Department of Health and Social Care will indemnify the Inquiry insofar that the Chair or any other member of the Inquiry who has acted honestly and in good faith will not have to meet out of his or her personal resources any personal civil liability, including costs, which is incurred in the execution or the purported execution of his or her Inquiry functions, save where the Inquiry member has acted recklessly. This indemnity will cover the entire duration of the Inquiry’s work, from November 2021 until when the Inquiry submits its final report, expected in 2023, and for an unlimited period after that date. However, we believe there is a low risk of the indemnity being called upon beyond five years of the Inquiry having reported. There will be no cap placed upon the indemnity, so the maximum exposure is strictly unlimited. However, any losses are not expected to exceed a value of £3 million based upon the best estimate currently available at this stage of the Inquiry’s work. If the liability is called, provision for any payment will be sought through the normal Supply procedure. The Treasury has approved the proposal in principle which mirrors the standard indemnity for board members described in Managing Public Money. If, during the period of fourteen Parliamentary sitting days beginning on the date on which this Minute was laid before Parliament, a member signifies an objection by giving notice of a Parliamentary Question or by otherwise raising the matter in Parliament, final approval to proceed with incurring the liability will be withheld pending an examination of the objection. The indemnity is expected to come into force on 26 April 2022, subject to the approval of Parliament on this basis. Copies of the Departmental Minute have been laid in both Houses.

Treasury

UK suspension of exchange of tax information with Russia and Belarus

Lucy Frazer: Today I am announcing that the UK is freezing tax cooperation with Russia and Belarus by suspending all exchange of tax information with them, as part of the UK’s wider response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The UK exchanges tax information with Russia under the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters and Russia and Belarus under bilateral Double Tax Agreements. Tax information is exchanged as part of collaboration to address tax compliance risks.Suspending exchange of tax information means that Russia will not receive information under any of the UK’s exchange of information agreements: Exchange of Information on Request (EoIR), Common Reporting Standard (CRS) or Country-by-country Reporting (CBCR). Belarus is not signed up to the CRS or CBCR, so only EoIR information is being suspended.It is not appropriate that the UK undertake co-operation that would lead to the economic benefit of Russia or Belarus, who have aided and abetted Russia. The suspension of tax information exchange will ensure the UK is not supplying Russia and Belarus with information that could lead to an increased tax benefit or yield for them. This action is not expected to materially impact the UK’s ability to address tax non-compliance as we continue to exchange tax information with our extensive treaty network.